Quote:
Originally Posted by Robbie
You know better than me on that one. I'm only thinking about how many idiots send out viruses and trojans every day in every other way, so I figure why not torrents too? But I have never ever used a torrent site so I'm ignorant on that.
And yeah, the on demand is no good for old stuff. I was referring to if I happened to miss a recent episode of something.
If I am a fan of something...I'll go buy the DVD season collection (if it's available) or the movie on BluRay. But I'm not really a fan of television shows to that extent anyway. Once I watch it one time, I'm done with it.
The only things I keep are concert movies because I'm a musician and I love music. But again, I buy those since I'm a fan of all the bands that I collect.
And I think the TV networks have went at it differently. Their programming is already free. It's not the product that they sell....so they are all ad based. So with that business model they have pretty much all set up archived seasons on their network websites to watch.
I only mentioned "getting in trouble" because I don't particularly want to take any chances of going to a site that does contain stolen content and having my IP identified etc.
I like to keep under the radar.  |
I buy everything on DVD as well, the only difference is that I immediately rip (or download a version) for storage on my network. The DVD goes right into a rubbermaid container and when they fill up, they get tossed in the attic.
There are precautions you can take when downloading torrents, but so long as you're not downloading the crap cam copies that get released the day the movies come out you won't send up any red flags.
I don't know about Cox cable, but Time Warner knows exactly what I'm doing...as I told them at one point I wanted to cut the cable entirely because I was downloading using the internet service. That's when they offered me the basic package plus HBO for like $15 a month.
As a live music fan, there's a HUGE assortment of stuff on the torrents. And much of at the ok of the band. Pretty much every day this summer I was able to download the Kiss concert from the night before. Old live bootlegs that people used to trade on VHS tapes are also available.
Torrents aren't for everyone, and yes...they can be abused. But like most things that are abused, they weren't initially intended to abused like they are. As a distribution method, it's a pretty great system.
I have no problems downloading anything that shows up on the TV. The TV biz doesn't seem to have a huge hard on for downloaders. Movies on the other hand, I don't often take the risk...and if I do, it's because I know that the Bluray will be delivered to my house upon release.